Thursday, September 22, 2005

Hell broke loose today on my project; we had a quality failure, and our customer issued a complaint and started emailing nastygrams. My boss pulled me into his office, ready to put the screws to me, and I already had shit under control. Plan A is complete, and I have a fucking awesome failsafe Plan B.

Here's how I know plan B is awesome. I sent photos of plan B to out pissed off customer who sent back an email (copying everyone, mind you) saying, "Thork, if you can get that to work on a production scale, I will build a statue of you here at XXXXXX"

Tuesday, September 6, 2005

I just spent 46.65 to fill my tank of gas. Which was exactly 16.666 gallons.

Now. It's coincidences such as these that make me believe that christian liturgy has more weight to it than I've previously thought. Which places an agnostic...ist such as myself a few inches off the bullseye.

That being said, seeing this schnappszahl (see german) where I did has me understanding who is in charge, and what his "foot-in-the-door" is. Believeable, considering the violence and avarice which seems to always accompany petroleum on this planet.

And if we do happen to have a sentient "intelligent designer", he/she/it is not omnipotent, or not benevolent. Or both. Which is in direct opposition to the word of every clergyman every "mono-deist" religion I can think of.

So I'm going to be riding my bike more often. (Speaking of which; yesterday, I probably saved $10 in gas and spent 500 calories riding my bike around town)

Also, and I've been doing this for a while now, I'm never going to spend another dime at a "convenience store" outside of gas. It's getting more & more expensive to live in this country, and the only way to have your voice heard will soon be to keep your own money in your own pocket. Maybe you'll hear me. Or maybe not. I can't speak billions loud.

(And I think someone is trying to squelch this voice. This is my 3rd try to post this blog entry)

My car broke, and it cost me $200 to fix it. It's my lucky day, and I'm not being facetious. My catalytic converter was jammed up, and it needed to be replaced. Catalytic converters usually cost about $500, because they have essential components made of Platinum and Rhodium.

On a loosely related topic, I think I'm going to do some dumpster diving tonight.

But why was it cheap? I just passed my factory warrantee; I was assuming that this would've been all covered under my extended warrantee that I purchased.

Nope. But when I let go of that long, painful sigh to the servicemen, he said "management has agreed to waive all but $200" of the service. I could have left paying $700 today. (I'm guessing I got the thing @cost)

Either I had an unknown friend pull some strings, or I've been had. The serviceman told me "these things aren't supposed to go out," but it's all a bit fishy. They could've not told my it was covered, paid the warantee company my deductable $100, and put the rest in their pocket.

I'm going to find out. As a mechanical engineer, I should have little problem detecting whether they replaced it or refurbed/repaired my CatConv.

I was trained to be an Engineer, but I've also learned how to be a Reverse Engineer

I'm beginning to think the true reason behind cologne samples in men's magazines is to cover up other....scents in the bathroom.

Blueberries are superfoods. Just as I anticipated.*rubbing my hands together* I'm not going to cite my source. Ok, ok. Her name was Dara.

I probably dream more during waking hours than I do when I'm asleep. Don't mention this to my boss.

Obese people should not be allowed to wear the "livestrong" bracelets. Pardon me for being abrasive, you aren't living strong. You are living weak on a couch succumbing to cheese doodles. Lance lives on a bicycle going uphill, and succumbs only to Sheryl Crow. Boing.

More abrasion. Remember the story about the man who built his house on the ocean, and the other man who built his house on the rock? And then the part where the man on the ocean's house got washed away by the ocean, and the man on the rock was ok?